


Lattes of Love

by DomesticatedFeral



Series: Teen Wolf Bingo [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Crush at First Sight, M/M, POV Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28501842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DomesticatedFeral/pseuds/DomesticatedFeral
Summary: Derek likes his lattes, and he likes his lattes a very specific way.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Teen Wolf Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087781
Kudos: 41





	Lattes of Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RxSterek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RxSterek/gifts).



Derek likes his lattes, and he likes his lattes a very specific way.

Every day at around 8, sometimes before 8, Derek walks into the small diner, it was built in the 1950s and has remained the same way. The diner was family owned ever since the beginning, passing on from parent to child yet always staying the same. The same menu, tables, chairs, music, everything. Derek liked it. It was like a small nook of familiarity in the fast, everchanging pace the world was moving in. It was his safe space in Camden, Maine.

He sits down on one of the bar stools, and a waiter approaches, not his usual waitress Erica, but someone else.

“Morning, what would you like for today?” The waiter asked.

Derek, looked at his face, noticing the moles arranged like stars on his face, his lopsided smile, and whiskey-brown eyes. Derek fantasized about getting lost in them, like a never-ending hike in the Appalachian Trail.

“Uhm, sir?”

Derek blankly looked at the waiter, his brain short-circuiting until he realized that he was just staring at the waiter like a creep.

“Oh, sorry, a latte, please.”

“Alright, just a latte, nothing else?”

“Maybe with a side of you,” Derek mumbled as he nodded.

The waiter walks back through the double kitchen doors where he had come from, which was unusual since waiters can drop in their orders through the little window. Maybe he didn’t know since he was a rookie waiter.

A while later, the waiter brings out a latte, it didn’t look like Derek’s normal latte that he ordered for, but Derek takes a small sip. It was berry flavored.

The waiter slides up to Derek, batting his eyes at him.

“Soo, how’d you like it?”

“It’s,” Derek kept his usual glower displayed across his face, as he watched the waiter’s face droop, “I actually like it better than a regular latte.”

“See, it’s good to try something new from time to time, Derek,” the waiter said as he walked back into the kitchen.

Derek was puzzled, somehow, the waiter knew him, knew that he ordered the same regular latte every day.

He drinks the rest of the latte, savoring every drop. His usual waitress, Erica, brought his check. He saw the waiter from before looking out from the serving window, his head resting on his hands.

“So, I’m guessing that your regular has changed?”

“ _ Ayuh _ , is he from here?”

“No, from away, moved a month ago. Just like you, from  _ Californi-er _ .”

“Here I thought, your lattes were the finest kind in Camden. Who is he?”

“You’re pretty interested in him. They-uh...I dunno, his name. Here’s your check.”

Derek takes his check, paying for the latte that was rung as a regular latte. As he takes his wallet out to pay, the fan flips the check and Derek catches a glimpse of something written on the other side of the check.

He turns it over, it was a sentence, sloppily written,  _ ‘For more diverse lattes and maybe something more, ask for Latte Guy” _

Derek looks up at the serving window, the waiter was looking straight at Derek. Derek glances at him as he notes the number down on his phone, grinning at him before leaving as Erica took his check away, putting a 10 dollar tip for both the waiter and waitress.

He makes his way through work, ignoring the idle chatter from fellow mechanics as he worked on the same car as yesterday. He pushed himself to finish it today, so far, the chances looked great. He finishes it, 10 minutes after the shop closed but that’s alright, he didn’t have to work on it tomorrow and that’s all he wanted.

“Night Austin, I’m checking out,” he said, poking his head into the office.

“Derek, wait, 'ere’s your paycheck for this month.”

Derek walks in, taking the paycheck and putting it in his jacket pocket.

“You know I could just transfah it to you, we’re not livin’ in the 1950s.”

"Well, it's just that you give me a solid check every time, plus, I don't mind going to the bank."

"Very funny, sonny, put it back 'ere, I'll transfah it to you."

Derek puts the check back on the table before leaving, bidding Austin goodnight once more before beginning his walk back to his small apartment.

On his walk back, he takes a detour, just so he would pass the diner on the way back, he sees the waiter outside, talking with another waiter.

He walks in, the bell ringing as he does. He sits down on the same stool he was sitting on earlier that morning.

A few minutes later, a waiter comes up and asks what he'd like.

"Is Latte Guy around?"

The waiter smirks, looking back at the waiter who was trying to hide a smile, "yeah, he is."

"Tell him I want a Latte."

"Alrighty. Nothin' else?"

"Maybe something for dinner, a plate of mac and cheese."

" _ Clah-ssic _ choice. Comin’ right up!"

Derek was on his phone when his food was put down on the table in front of him.

“I hope you don’t mind lobster mac and cheese, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t mind a vanilla latte, with a side of me.”

Derek's jaw dropped open as he scrambled to remember if he’d actually said that or not, “I, uh- yes, um… what?”

“Earlier, you ordered your morning latte, then when I asked if you wanted anything else, you mumbled, ‘maybe with a side of you’ sorry that didn’t happen instantly. I was too flustered, but if you don’t want me here, I could just go back to the kitchen and wait for someone else’s order to cook it.”

“No, sit, trust me, I uh- want you here…” he left the sentence unfinished for  _ Latte Guy _ to say his name.

“Stiles, nice to meet you, Derek.”

“Nice to meet you too, Stiles. Are you a waiter here or a cook?”

“I mainly do the jobs in the kitchen and bar, but someone named Erica dared me to take your order today. I wouldn’t normally do what others tell me to do, but she’s intimidating and absolutely sensational in both looks and management talent. Honestly, I wonder why she isn’t the manager and-” Stiles stops abruptly, making Derek look up from his food to see him biting his lip, “I’m sorry, I have a horrible habit of rambling.”

“It’s alright, I don’t mind if you ramble. I have a bad habit of listening in too much instead of contributing to a conversation.”

“Well, ain’t we just two peas in a pod of bad habits?”

Derek laughs, “yeah, it does.”

He takes a sip of his latte while Stiles pours himself a glass of milk.

“Vanilla latte?”

“How is it?”

“I like it. The lobster mac and cheese tastes like the usual leftovers Mrs. Jenevia would give when I was renting an extra room in her place.”

“Wait, Mrs. Jenevia as in Mrs. Jenevia that lives in the corner house of Blake Street?”

“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any other Mrs. Jenevias here.”

“I’m renting the room right now and I got this lobster mac and cheese recipe from her. Dude, you’re telling me you used to live where I’m living right now?”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s what I said. I live in my own apartment now, speaking of Mrs. Jenevia, I should visit her, see how she’s doing.”

“She reminds me of my mother, without the Polish of course, but god, she’s a blessing to live with, also-” he took a sip of his glass of milk- “do drop in one time, she talks about you alot and hopes that you visit one day.”

“Maybe I will, tomorrow, either during lunch break or later in the evening.”

“Great, I won’t tell, I promise.”

Derek looks at him with the look of slight disbelief.

“I swear I won’t ramble it out.”

Derek smiles, and goes back to finishing the last of his mac and cheese, then drinking the rest of his latte.

“So, if I ask for a latte tomorrow, will I get a regular or flavored latte?” Derek asked as Stiles counted the money he put for the check.

“Whatever way I feel like making it, but just so you know, I don’t think you’ll get a regular latte on my watch ever. Erica said you’ve been drinking that ever since you moved here about almost 5 years ago.”

“Has it really been that long since I moved here?”

“She says so, yeah. I also checked the system, since you’re a regular, your names on the receipts and yeah, your first was about 5 years ago,” Stiles handed back Derek his change, but Derek didn’t take it, closing Stiles’ hand back up as to tell him to keep it for himself.

“The world moves fast, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“But when I spend my mornings, sometimes evenings here, the world seems to slow down. But right now, to be honest with you, spending time with you is all that makes the world feel like it’s standing still.”

Stiles blushes, the pink dusting on his cheeks, nose, and ears.

“Even though this felt like a date, would you want to go to one with me?”

“Sure, I’d be glad to go on a date with you sometime.”

“When will you be free this weekend?”

“I’m free, Saturday morning.”

“Great.”

Derek likes his lattes, and he likes his lattes, however way Stiles makes it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for [RxSterek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RxSterek/pseuds/RxSterek) for beta-ing this fic for me.  
> Also, I was honestly surprised I hadn't written any coffeeshop AU's/AU's related to it yet, so I guess 2021 opens with this! Yayyy!


End file.
